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Letter from Mr Royston Webb to the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards
Thank you for your letter of 11 February inviting
my assistance on your inquiry into what may be generally described
as the parliamentary sleaze allegations of Mr Mohamed Al-Fayed.
I am, of course, willing to render any assistance
within my power and I set out below my recollection of events.
Whilst this is in the form of a letter, I would raise no objection
to your putting it in the form of a statement to be signed or
sworn. I shall also fax a copy of this letter to Mr Stewart Benson,
the solicitor who has been facilitating the giving of evidence
from those on Mohamed Al-Fayed's side of this particular fence.
1. My full name is David Royston Webb. I have
qualified as a barrister and chartered secretary and joined Mohamed
Al-Fayed's organisation in the capacity of general counsel on
1 September 1985 - a few months after his completion of the acquisition
of the House of Fraser group.
2. Until I retired on 30 September 1996, I was
the senior, and at many times the only, qualified lawyer within
the organisation. I worked directly for Mohamed Al-Fayed but also
had frequent day to day contact with his brother, Ali. I was
a director of all the significant companies in the group, including
the parent, Harrods Holdings and its principal subsidiary, Harrods
Ltd. Until July 1993 I was also a director of House of Fraser
plc.
3. My 11 years were consistently devoted
to legal work of a most intense and complex nature, the majority
of which involved Mohamed Al-Fayed personally. It is thus fair
to say that emotions ran high throughout that period. Whilst
I acted as the co-ordinator for a battery of expert city solicitors
and counsel, my personal contact with Mohamed Al-Fayed was far
greater than that of any external legal adviser. My experience
embraced the eight years of the Lonrho litigation, the renegotiation
of financing on a substantial scale, the DTI inquiry, the resolution
of criminal allegations, the floatation of House of Fraser (ex-Harrods)
and many other significant matters.
4. In May 1996 I advised Mohamed Al-Fayed that
since all the essential "life and death" issues were,
in my view, in the past, it was an appropriate moment for me
to step down. The tension and difficulty of those years can barely
be imagined. We agreed that I could take early retirement with
effect from 30 September 1996 and that I would be retained as
a consultant for a further five years. I told them that it was
my intention to research for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
at the University of Wales (Cardiff) and this I have now started.
I continue, of course, to see Mohamed Al-Fayed and Ali Fayed
from time to time, my last contact being lunch with Ali the week
before Christmas.
5. It is important to realise that throughout
the years in which your inquiry is principally interested, Mohamed
Al-Fayed had a very small central staff. There was his personal
office at 60 Park Lane (where I was in frequent contact with
Alison Bozek and Iris Bond) and the group head office at 14 South
Street. That office consisted for the most part of accounting
staff and me. In such a small team, my responsibilities extended
beyond the purely legal to such matters as the day to day supervision
of our public relations company, Broad Street Associates, our
parliamentary consultants, IGA, and a number of other contacts
who fell into my area as being the most convenient. I also had
considerable dealings with the press since Michael Cole did not
join us until a couple of years later.
6. I believe that I first met Ian Greer of IGA
late in 1985. The Lonrho battle was being pressed not only through
its Observer newspaper but also in Parliament through the
agency of its Chairman, Sir Edward du Cann MP. IGA was retained
as a counterweight. An annual fee of £25,000 was agreed,
presumably between Mohamed Al-Fayed and Ian, and Ian sent me
an invoice on a monthly basis. I would approve it and House of
Fraser would pay it. I note that it is asserted that a further
£5,000 per quarter was paid by Mohamed Al-Fayed to Ian in
cash. I had no knowledge of that arrangement. I have read the
transcripts of the evidence of Alison and Iris on that point
and the attack on their credibility by Mr Hamilton. I can only
say that in a decade of dealing with these ladies on an almost
daily basis, I cannot recall a single instance when I had cause
to question their veracity.
7. I had frequent meetings with Ian over the
years. Some would be at my office and some at his. I was also
aware that he would meet Mohamed Al-Fayed privately from time
to time. Whilst I would usually be briefed as to what had transpired
at those meetings, I could not say how thorough was my brief.
8. Ian put together a group of Members of Parliament
broadly sympathetic to our position and opposed to that of Mr
Rowland's Lonrho. I was responsible for briefing these MPs. Sometimes
I would prepare a note on a particular issue for Ian to circulate,
sometimes I would brief an MP face to face on an individual basis
and other times Ian might arrange a group briefing. I remember,
for example, attending a meeting in a committee room at the side
of Westminster Hall which was attended, as I recall, by Peter
Hordern, Neil Hamilton, Tim Smith, Michael Grylls, Andrew Bowden
and Ian.
9. I remember briefing Tim Smith twice at my
office in South Street. No-one else was present, apart from my
secretary, Mrs Ruth McIntosh, for a few moments. I considered
Tim an entirely honourable man, motivated by principle rather
than any commercial interests. Tim saw me as the best source of
information because my knowledge of detail was necessarily greater
than that of Mohamed Al-Fayed himself. At no time did I believe
that Tim was actually being paid for his assistance. He did once
raise with me the possibility of Mohamed Al-Fayed assisting a
charity with which Tim was involved. I think that it was for the
provision of holidays for deprived children. I told him that
he should raise it with Mohamed Al-Fayed since he was a supporter
of a broad range of children's charities. He said that he would,
but I have no knowledge of whether he pursued the matter.
10. Whilst I met Neil Hamilton from time to
time, he never came to my office but I was made aware by Mohamed
Al-Fayed and Ian that Neil was in direct contact with Mohamed
Al-Fayed. As long as Ian was co-ordinating the broad thrust of
the MP's work, I was not particularly interested in how Neil was
briefed by Mohamed Al-Fayed, since Ian would be able to report
any deficiency by contacting me. Indeed I remember providing
a specific written brief for Neil concerning the activities of
Dr Ashraf Maswam, an associate of Mr Rowland. This was later
to form the basis of a letter from Neil to a Government minister.
11. I was very surprised when The Guardian
named Tim Smith as one of the "cash for questions"
MPs and saw his admission. I was not at all surprised by the
reference to Mr Hamilton. Not only did Mohamed Al-Fayed inform
me of the Hamiltons' stay at the Ritz Hotel but he told me that
he had been paying him. On one occasion, Neil had just been to
visit Mohamed Al-Fayed and had given him a set of gilt House of
Commons cufflinks. Mohamed Al-Fayed said such words as "I
give him thousands of pounds. For what? A pair of cheap cufflinks!
" He then passed remark about politicians not being trustworthy
and made a present to me of the cufflinks. I told him that it
was a mistake to get so embroiled with any politician as nothing
useful would come from it. I expressed the view that Neil was
a very ambitious man working to his own agenda and that he would
drop Mohamed Al-Fayed whenever it suited him.
12. Subsequently Ian told me in his office
that he had received reports of Neil's boasting to other MPs of
the manner in which he had taken advantage of Mohamed Al-Fayed's
hospitality at the Ritz. Such boasting included the quaffing
of vintage champagne at breakfast. Ian said that he had told Neil
"not to be such a bloody fool". He also told me that
Neil had tried to stay at the Ritz on his way back through France
but had been told that the hotel was full. His wife, Christine,
telephoned, under an assumed name, to be told that she would be
welcome! It was plain that Ian was very annoyed with Neil for
his indiscretion.
13. As House of Fraser's official Parliamentary
Adviser, Peter Hordern and I were in frequent contact. I have
only the highest regard for the professionalism with which Peter
handled matters in what were often very delicate circumstances.
14. Apart from Peter Hordern, the MP with whom
I had the greatest contact was Dale Campbell-Savours. We met
and spoke many times. Dale's agenda, however, was quite different
from that of Mohamed Al-Fayed and, in fact, they never met. Dale
considered that Rowland's control of The Observer militated
against the interests of socialism in this country and he felt
that by employing some of the information which I possessed he
could draw the attention of opinion formers to the undesirability
of Lonrho's continued ownership. Thus I would often draft Early
Day Motions for Dale which he would then scrutinize and reject
or publish, introducing such amendments as he considered appropriate.
Not a penny changed hands, nor was it even hinted at. I regard
Dale as a man of great principle. My dealings with him were entirely
proper and I am sure that he would confirm that.
15. Whilst only I dealt with Dale, I did keep
Ian informed of what I was doing in terms of the subject matter
of forthcoming EDMs, etc. Ian was very pleased with this approach
since it added a surprising political balance, particularly in
the light of Dale's reputation as incorruptible. Dale, however,
wanted nothing to do with Ian: he considered him a malign influence
on the workings of Parliament.
16. The respect in which Ian held Dale was not
extended by him to all other MPs. I remember him telling me that
after Mrs Thatcher was returned to office with a massively increased
majority, he was besieged by new, largely Tory, MPs seeking consultancies
of any kind, whether relevant to their interests, constituencies
or not. He viewed this money-grubbing as very unsavoury and I
am therefore surprised to see his denial of the assertion that
MPs could be equated with taxi drivers. I take that statement
to mean an availability for hire which, in different words, is
exactly what he experienced after the second Thatcher victory.
17. Being aware of the ministerial ambitions
of both Neil and Tim, Ian thought that we should bolster our
campaign by including an MP with no such inhibitions - "a
bit of a maverick" - as he put it. He raised a few names
with me, including Nicholas Budgen and Tony Marlow, before settling
on Andrew Bowden.
18. Late one morning Andrew met Mohamed
Al-Fayed at 60 Park Lane and, when the meeting was over, I met
Andrew for the first time and took him to lunch at the nearby
Grosvenor House Hotel. He told me that his meeting with Mohamed
Al-Fayed had gone very well, that he was eager to begin work.
He asked that I give him a thorough briefing and told me that
he would be using a constituent of his, a Michael Land, to assist
him. Mr Land had sometime earlier been employed by Lonrho. Subsequently,
Andrew, Mr Land and I had our briefing meeting at 1 Howick Place,
the office of House of Fraser. I was not impressed by Mr Land:
he was a sleazy figure in a shabby raincoat and I was left puzzled
by the nature of his relationship with Andrew. Andrew thanked
me for the briefing, said that he was going to have another meeting
with Mohamed Al-Fayed and looked forward to our meeting again.
19. Sometime later, I asked Mohamed Al-Fayed
what was happening with Andrew. He told me that we would not
be using him as he had asked Mohamed Al-Fayed for £50,000
a year. He had said that his fee would have to be pitched at
that level to allow for the involvement of Mr Land. Mohamed Al-Fayed
told him it was excessive, I am told, and that was the end of
Andrew's role. Mohamed Al-Fayed subsequently told me that he
had paid £5,000 to Andrew for his initial work.
20. I recall seeing a comment in the press to
the effect that Andrew simply introduced Mr Land to me and that
any financial arrangements regarding Mr Land were to be made directly
between Mr Land and me. The quotation is ascribed to Andrew.
The statement is untrue. Whilst Andrew did effect the introduction,
at no time did he lead me to believe that Mr Land would be paid
direct, the issue was simply not discussed between us. My position
was simple: if Andrew negotiated a consultancy arrangement with
Mohamed Al Fayed, then that arrangement would take care of his
expenses - which would include Mr Land.
21. I recall discussing the Bowden episodes
with Ian in his offices. I asked him what had happened and Ian
simply said that Andrew had been too greedy.
22. The suggestion appears to be made by Mr
Pleming at several points that the sums of money dispensed by
Mohamed Al-Fayed were disproportionately large. Perhaps they were,
in a normal context, but the context here was far from normal.
An illustration of this is that Mr Rowland once offered me, in
cash, the sum of £5 million if I would leave Mohamed Al-Fayed
and join Lonrho. That offer was subsequently confirmed in the
presence of five witnesses. The circumstances of this case are
truly extraordinary.
23. I have been advised that Mr Rowland himself
has given evidence to you and that he stated, inter alia,
that I was present at a meeting between Mohamed Al-Fayed and
Adnan Khashoggi at which Mohamed Al-Fayed offered Adnan US$2
million, or some such sum, to say that the evidence Adnan gave
the DTI inspectors was false. That statement is untrue. I have
met Adnan on one occasion only - and that was indeed with Mohamed
Al-Fayed and a friend of Adnan, named Anas Yassin. Mohamed Al-Fayed
did ask Adnan to retract his evidence but Adnan said he could
not do so because he was concerned about being prosecuted for
perjury in that his evidence to the DTI was given on oath. I
then suggested that he might give a statement on matters which
were not included in his evidence. I specifically mentioned the
point that many of the witnesses regarded as independent by the
inspectors were not independent at all in that they had been funded
by Lonrho. Adnan saw no difficultly in this approach and asked
me to meet his legal adviser, Samuel Evans. This I did and we
refined the approach further. Mohamed Al-Fayed then took the
view that this avenue should not be pursued and I cancelled a
second meeting with Evans. At no time did the conversation either
with Adnan or Evans turn to money. Clearly Mr Rowland, who was
not present at either meeting, has been misinformed.
I hold myself available to give oral evidence
on either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of next week at your
convenience. Such testimony would appear to be consistent with
your desire to dispose of this phase of the matter by 18 February.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Royston Webb
13 February 1997
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